A very old man lay dying in his bed. In death's doorway, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookie wafting up the stairs.

He gathered his remaining strength and lifted himself from the bed. Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort forced himself down the stairs, gripping the railing with both hands.

With labored breath, he leaned against the door frame, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death's agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven.

There, spread out up on newspapers on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favorite chocolate chip cookies.

Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted wife, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man?

Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself toward the table.

The aged and withered hand, shaking, made its way to a cookie at the edge of the table,

True story:
My step daughter and I were discussing the high price of funerals shortly after her maternal grandmother died. I told her that her dad had set aside $50,000 for his funeral. She said, "$50,000??!!!?!!?! That's a lot!" I said that I figured I could bury him for around $10,000 and use the rest for the memorial stone. She said, "$40,000 would buy a HUGE stone." I held my hand up and said, "Yes, but I have rather large hands and I think I'll be able to wear it beautifully." LOL She didn't think it was nearly as funny as I did.